DeWitt attorney to run for 119th Assembly seat as Green candidate

Syracuse, NY – A DeWitt attorney is entering the race for the open 119th Assembly District seat as the Green Party candidate.

Michael F. Donnelly, 36, of Downing Road, said people are used to Greens running for office to raise issues and change the course of the debate.

“That time is over,” Donnelly said in a prepared statement this afternoon announcing his candidacy. “In this year in this county I believe a Green can be elected. We can win, we intend to win, and we will win, but we need your help.”

Donnelly said he will campaign on a platform seeking universal single-payer health care for all state residents; the availability of living-wage jobs for all who need them; fully funded public education; rebuilt infrastructure; a ban on hydrofracking; legal reforms including a state public defender’s office; and government, election and spending reform.

Donnelly seeks the seat being vacated at the end of the year by Joan Christensen, D-Syracuse, who is retiring. The Democrats designated Syracuse City Auditor Philip LaTessa to run, but two other contenders, former County Legislator Sam Roberts, of Syracuse, and Jane Fahey-Suddaby, a BOCES administrator from Onondaga, have said they will challenge him in a September primary.

Donnelly is a graduate of Christian Brothers Academy. He received bachelor’s degrees in philosophy and English from Le Moyne College and his law degree from Indiana University Bloomington School of Law. He works as assigned counsel for poor defendants.

He will need to collect 1,500 signatures from district residents on petitions to qualify for the November ballot.